Since my kids have started Occupational Therapy to help with their sensory issues, they love sensory bins. I always knew about them as a Special Education Teacher, but never realized just how important and calming they can be for kids. Most kids love playing with sand, shaving cream, Play Doh, or other around the house items. But for kids with sensory issues, this can be quite challenging.
When Whitney was younger, she refused, actually had meltdowns, when she saw sand, shaving cream, or glitter. My youngest Wade is now the same way, and my middle Wes, is the complete opposite….an absolute messy disaster. I’ve discovered they are this way for different reasons. Whitney and Wade are extremely sensitive to feelings, which makes them not like to get dirty, messy, or feel anything out of the ordinary on their hands (Wade will test things out with his toes/feet before any other body part, and Whitney just wants to watch others first). Wesley, on the other hand, cannot feel the sensations like others do, causing him to be quite a bit more messy because he doesn’t have the control or feeling in his hands. In order for him to fully experience something, he has to explore very messily with his hands, but also other body parts. He’s the kid you see with glitter, sand, shaving cream, etc. in his hair, on his shirt, on his pants, and all over the floor (and at times the walls around him).
Enter Sensory Bins.
Sensory Bins help kids to gradually process different stimuli, at their own pace, and with individual textures….working up to all textures. Because the stimuli is in a small bin, they feel more control with how much or little they want to interact with it. For example, when Wade first started OT, they had a huge bean bin that he stared at, wanted to touch, but refused. He was, however, able to use cups to scoop and pour the beans in and out of the bin. I created a bean bin for him at home and he is now able to completely submerge his hands and feet into the beans. This took time on his part, but with small improvements each time he played with it, his skin became less sensitive to the textures, and he became more confident because he was in control of how much or little he would interact.
This same process happened with the water beads, rice bin, and kinetic sand. Each kid was able to reduce/induce sensitivities at their own pace and control so they could interact or be less messy with new stimuli. I’ve also noticed more interaction with all textures in the everyday environment with Whitney and Wade because their sensitivities have lessened. I’ve also noticed Wesley being more in control of his hands and having less spills and messes, which has greatly increased his confidence.
Onto the bins….
I know there are so many around the house objects that can be used for sensory bins, so I’ve only listed the four that we’ve started with. Pay attention to what your child needs and create a bin around that. Make sure to start with something they may be interested in or they won’t interact at all. Small cups, measuring spoons, small cars/trucks or any little toys can be used in most bins.
Have you felt these things????? They are amazing!!! So smooth, soft, not slimy, with beautiful colors….I LOVE these. You can buy them in one color or a rainbow of colors. I bought the rainbow and it worked perfectly for sorting colors.
This half pound of water beads filled all three bins you see in the picture above! I could not believe how inexpensive and time consuming this could be for the kiddos. I went to the dollar store and bought plastic measuring cups and long handle mixing spoons which were perfect size for stirring and scooping. I also bought these Handy Scoopers for fine motor skills.
The kids got super creative with the water beads. Whitney liked sorting them by colors into the measuring cups. This eventually turned into getting all the small bowls in the house and each kid wanted to sort colors. Then, Wes figured out the water beads fit in our marble maze and they started creating different ways to build mazes that the water beads could fall back into their bins. Water beads turned into weeks of fun. We live in Maine during the summer and had to get rid of this batch when we moved back home, but they ask about them all the time. Easy for them to independently play with, no clean up, hours of fun….highly recommend!
Beans and noodles create a coarser texture for kids to work with. Wade is very particular about what he touches with his hands and said the beans and noodles were too hard and hurt. But, over time his hands have become less sensitive and he now loves his bean bin. This sensory bin also helps with loud noises as the scooping and dumping of the beans is a much harsher noise than the water beads, which are quiet. Kids who are sensitive to noises can get used to louder or different noises when they are in control of how loud and when the noises happen.
I bought a variety of beans at a local store and filled the rest of the bin with large noodles: large lima beans, red kidney beans, Greek giant beans, penne pasta noodles, rigatoni, and rotini noodles all make a wonderful assortment of size and textures. Cups, small cars, dumping trucks, or whatever the kids like to play with the beans work great. Clean up is a breeze and I can’t believe how much this has helped with sensitivities.
I’ve seen the commercials….. I’ve heard “I want that!”….. but I resisted for so long because I myself must have a sensory issue because I. HATE. SAND!!!
HOWEVER, as I have now discovered, kinetic sand is completely different and I am in love with the stuff.
Kinetic sand is great for strengthening hand muscles, creative play, and calming kids. Cutting into the sand with a cutting tool is so satisfying….the crunchy sound it makes, the perfect slice it creates…ahhhhh!
I bought three, 3lb bags of kinetic sand and put each bag into a stack and carry handle box. I also bought this 75 piece sand molds set and tjese big size castle molds, which came with the cool cutting tools. The kids decided to organize the molds by color into bins.
I love kinetic sand because they are capable of playing with it by themselves (like early on a Saturday morning so we can get a wee bit more sleep) and I don’t have to worry about clean up.
We have carpet in the playroom where the table is, and it doesn’t stick into the carpet, but rather sits on top. Kinetic sand never dries out and can either be hard to hold a mold shape, but lift it up off the table and let it softly fall down to create a waterfall type look. It is so relaxing and enjoyable to play with, but mostly it has helped my kids (and myself) overcome their fear and worry about sand.
For the older, more responsible kids, a rice bin is extremely therapeutic for its calming factor. When I first created Whitney her rice bin, she had no interest in touching the rice, but only cutting with tools, scooping and dumping, and other non-interactive activities. But, over time, she has come to love the feel of burying her hands in the rice and slowly pulling them out. I do not let the boys play with this inside the house as it can get quite messy, but take it outside and they also love it.
The dollar store had a 10lb bag of long grain rice which was more than enough to fill a plastic container I already had. I also found these small play kitchen utensils and a small, plastic tea set, which were both the perfect size for the rice. She also likes to bury foam alphabet and numbers and find them later. The size of these toys are great because she can keep them all stored inside the bin for later.
Whitney has a difficult time sitting still, but when she plays with her rice bin she is so quiet and peaceful. I can’t express how relaxing and wonderful this has been for her.
As you can see, sensory bins are fun, relaxing, stimulating, and great for those sensitive little hands. Look around the house or go to the dollar store and see what you can come up with!
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